Giving Thanks

We got double the dinner this year. We started off at Bahmah's house on Monday night where we were greeted with a very tasty dinner. I forgot to bring in the camera so I missed the layout:( But it was wonderful. After dinner we indulged in some Italian Cream Cake and pumpkin pie. Oh, so yummy.
On Wednesday I went to my aunt's house to help create our Thanksgiving feast. M and the girls met us there Thanksgiving morning and we ate about 1pm. I ate entirely too much food but it was equally delicious!
Here are some pictures of the family and the tasty spread. Sorry for the blurriness. I still haven't gotten the hang of our new camera.

The sideboard had deviled eggs, rolls, and fruit salad.
We also set Tommy Turkey there that the girls made.

On the main table we had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, tex mex corn, jellied cranberry sauce, and candied yams (which aren't really yams at all).
What we call yams are really sweet potatoes. Yams grow in Africa and grow to be 7 feet long and weigh 150 pounds. They have a dark brown bark-like skin and are grainy on the inside. Sweet potatoes range from white to yellow and orange skinned and are potato-like inside. Did you learn something new?

Pictures of my wonderful family. We had a great time stuffing ourselves
and talking about all the things we are thankful for.

After dinner the menfolk cleaned dishes while the womenfolk
packed up the leftovers. Then we enjoyed some pumpkin and apple pie.

My aunt sent us home with lots of leftovers but they only lasted a day. Anyone else ready to do Thanksgiving again? I sure do love those tasty dishes!

Breaking Dawn with the Girls

So Thursday night was the Breaking Dawn Part 1 opening night at the box office. I joined 16 of my friends for a pre-Breaking Dawn party. One of our sweetest friends even flew in for a 16 hour layover on her way home from Nashville to surprise us and join the festivities. We were so excited to see her. We had a taco bar and ice cream bar for dinner while enjoying each others company before heading over to the theater.
We stood in line outside in the pouring rain for about 45 minutes before the line moved enough forward that we could stand inside. Luckily some of us brought huge umbrellas that kept all of us dry. Once inside we stood in the hallway for another hour and a half before being seated in the third row from the front of the theater. It was so close but we were happy to finally be sitting down. We visited and got snacks while waiting the final hour before the movie started.
This was by far the best movie in the series. They did a great job and the actors have improved immensely. I didn't find myself laughing or poking fun at any of the movie this time. It left me wanting more but we have to wait a full year before the final movie is released.
All of us moms drug out of the theater and arrived home by 3:30 am. Friday was a very hard day. I was planning on going back to bed after getting the kids off to school but by then I was no longer tired. Running all day on barely four hours of sleep was hard but I made it. K had a practice at church this morning for our Primary Program and all the moms that went still look exhausted but we all agree it was totally worth it and so much fun. Gotta love Girls Night Out!

Here is a picture of some of us girls.

Here's our whole group. I love these girls!

End of Another Season

Wednesday was K's soccer party at Putter's where they kids received their trophies. Her coach, McKenzie, said K was the Princess of Strategy when it came to defense. She got out there and blocked the other team from making goals.

Saturday was our final game of the season. Thank goodness! It has been a very long season this time around and the last few games have been chilly to sit through. It was 47 degrees and raining on Saturday. Bahmah came to see the game which pleased K greatly.

K made a great block at the end of the

game when the other team tried to score.

Here is a picture of Coach McKenzie, Coach Garrett
and the team. It was a HUGE team this season.

Now that soccer is over the girls are taking swim lessons. It should get us through the winter before starting up the spring session of soccer once again. At least we will be inside and warm:)

Halloween Festivities

Every year my wonderful mother-in-law makes adorable costumes for my girls to wear at Halloween. This year she made gypsy costumes and they are awesome! The girls wore them to school parties, our ward trunk or treat, and out trick or treating too. Now they will head into our beautiful dress up wardrobe, also made by my m-i-l.
Here are some pictures of L modeling the costume front, side and back. Isn't it adorable?


And here she is heading out the door to her preschool Fall Harvest party on Friday. They had cookies and juice after going trick or treating through the school house. They also painted bats and pumpkins.
Here is K in her costume before heading to Trunk or Treat at our ward. This year we had hot dogs for the kids and chili for the adults outside in the parking lot. There was also ice cream cones for everyone. Inside the building were a couple of activities for the kids. They could put their hands inside of jack-o-lanterns and guess what was inside. One had guts (spaghetti) and the other one had eyeballs (olives). There was also musical chairs set up but the youth weren't ready to do it when we were there. After eating we went around to each trunk and got candy. The girls got a ton. When we go home I had them pick out 10 of their favorite pieces and put the rest in the candy bowl for trick or treaters Monday night.


On Saturday we went downtown to see all the pumpkins people set up along Broadway. There were hundreds of pumpkins and a lot of them were pretty cool. There was a guy with a HUGE pumpkin carving it. He said it would only take a few hours to carve his masterpiece but if he carved the same thing out of wood it would take months.

K is really into dinosaurs so she loved
this pumpkin with the Stegosaurus.

I would have loved to see the end product.

We thought this display from our local hospital was quite ingenious.
I love the open skull showing the brain and the one with the skull wound.

Anyone remember the California Raisins?

After looking at the display, we stopped at VooDoo Donuts.
I wasn't very impressed with their donuts but it was fun for the girls.

On Halloween we invited our good friends over for dinner and
trick or treating. I think it has become a tradition by now.
This is our fourth year doing it together. Aren't those kids adorable?
Two Gypsies, Rapunzel, and Cap'n Jack Sparrow.

Here is one of the houses in our neighborhood.
You can barely make out the girls at the door.
This was another cool house in the neighborhood.
It was a little spooky for L but she was fine with Daddy by her side.